Time to stock up for your weekend read? Pick these from the @crossword_book Awards Longlist!

We are thrilled to have @movingquill’s Amrut on the @GajaBookPrize longlist!

Your Classmate notebook? Funded by cigarettes. ITC began as a British tobacco monopoly in 1903. Today, 75% of its profits still come from smoking, while BAT remains its top shareholder. An empire built on ash—rebranded as Indian. #ITC #Tobacco #BusinessHistory

In 1996, Tupperware turned Indian housewives into stealth sales agents.💡 Selling at kitty parties, no ads, no retail. It worked—until India went online.📱 Tupperware didn’t. By 2021, 80% of sales were still offline. Amazon moved in. Game over. #Tupperware #Strategy

He was born into poverty, orphaned young—and laughed at by Elon Musk. 🚗 Yet today, Wang Chuanfu’s BYD is the world’s largest EV maker, supplying batteries to Tesla and partnering with Toyota. His secret? Build when everyone says no. #BYD #Resilience #Entrepreneurship

He quit his IT job to change how Bangalore drinks milk. 🥛 By helping farmers launch micro-dairies & cutting out middlemen, Jashi built Akshayakalpa—a ₹400cr brand. His masterstroke? Inviting customers to visit the farms. Trust turned into loyalty.💥 #Startups

In 1974, Terry Gou started with $7.5K molding TV knobs in Taiwan. He reverse-engineered every part to cut costs. Ran factories like Genghis Khan. Owned every step—from plastic to full notebooks. That’s how Foxconn became Apple’s $200B secret weapon. Wild.

Labubu: matted hair, gremlin teeth & beady eyes—anything but cute, yet the ultimate collectible. Blind‑box drops (1/72 secret variant), TikTok unboxing mania, $150K resales & 46K+ fakes seized. Scarcity + surprise = obsession. #Labubu #Collectibles

In 1995, Ted Turner changed Indian TV forever➡️ Launched Cartoon Network when kids had only Doordarshan.➡️ Dubbed shows in Hindi & regional languages. ➡️ Hooked millions of kids—and brands like Maggi & Chocos. But YouTube & Netflix ended its monopoly.

Harsh Mariwala changed coconut oil forever. ➡️ Launched round Parachute bottles rats couldn’t bite. ➡️ Branded it as edible oil to save 20% tax. ➡️ Built a ₹10,000 cr empire with Parachute owning 63% market share. Smart design + smart loophole = Market domination. #FMCG

In 1956 at Dartmouth, John McCarthy convened mathematicians, engineers & psychologists to ask: “Can machines learn?” They coined “Artificial Intelligence,” shifting from automata theory to a bold new field. That 8‑week workshop changed everything. 🤖✨ #AIHistory #Dartmouth1956

One rumor destroyed Dalda’s 30‑year monopoly. In the ’90s, whispers that “Dalda contains animal fat” spread across India. Housewives abandoned it, new vegetable oils surged, and by 2003 Unilever divested the brand. Trust lost—no ad could save it. #BrandCrisis #TrustEconomy

IIT chem engineer Ankit Garg saw ₹50k mattresses were just foam overpriced by middlemen. He launched Wakefit: vertical‑integrated, online D2C mattresses with a 100‑day trial & personal follow‑up calls. Now it’s a ₹1,000 cr+ home‑comfort empire. #D2C #StartupIndia

How underwear went from taboo to ₹4,900 cr premium fashion in India: Jockey’s Indian‑origin partner flipped the script—huge ads with foreign models, comfort‑as‑couture, 2× pricing, zero discounts. Result? A ₹4,900 cr sales blockbuster. 🩲🔥 #BrandReinvention

Birkenstock began in 1770s Germany with a cork–latex sole that mirrored the foot. Two centuries later, the two‑strap sandal was born. Then in 2020, anti‑style went mainstream—comfort over catwalk, uncool became the new cool. That’s how Birkenstock exploded. #Birkenstock

Polio paralyzed millions. Then came Jonas Salk & Albert Sabin—they created vaccines that saved lives. But here’s the twist: They refused to patent them. No profits. No royalties. Just impact. “Could you patent the sun?” — Salk Legacy over money. 🌍💉 #Innovation #Polio

Kalyanraman turned a ₹50 lakh loan into a jewellery giant that challenged the Tatas. He spotted it early: people spend way more on wedding jewellery than clothes—yet stores were dull. Big, glitzy stores + hyperlocal designs = Kalyan Jewellers. 💥 #IndianBusiness #D2C

Society doesn’t let men admit their insecurities. Sanjeev Junja built a ₹1,000 crore empire by solving them. Started with ₹2,000 from his mom. Launched Kesh King for hair fall. Sold it in 6 years. Then came Dr. Ortho, Pet Saffa & more.Real pain. Real profits. #IndiaBusiness

He started with locks. Ended up creating India’s most iconic soap. Ardeshir Godrej made locks to fight theft in 1890s Bombay. But he didn’t stop—he created India’s 1st veggie oil soap. Years later, his brother launched Cinthol—macho, fresh, iconic. Legacy built. 🧼🔐 #Godrej

Canon’s first logo? A Buddhist goddess with a thousand arms—symbolizing compassion & precision. They began by borrowing lenses from Nikon. Today, they file more patents than Amazon, Microsoft, or Sony. From mercy to mastery. That’s Canon’s journey. 📸 #Canon #Innovation